


Laura Smiles

by agent_reynolds



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-25
Updated: 2014-10-25
Packaged: 2018-02-22 12:21:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2507618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agent_reynolds/pseuds/agent_reynolds
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three centuries, and Carmilla has found something that seeped into her mind and interrupted all her thoughts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Laura Smiles

It had been a long and boring day for Carmilla.  Listening to professors who had no idea what they were talking about took quite a toll on her. She had spent some time with the Shelleys and Lord Byron, and she was willing to bet they would not appreciate the stance this professor was taking on their work.  The fight she was having with the groan clawing up her throat was a losing one.  It was only a matter of time before it escaped, but maybe if she got back to the room and got something to drink, she could push it back down for a while. 

 

Carmilla arrived at the room, only to find Laura and her nearly married friends recording another video. The groan forced its way out upon sight of this.  Three necks nearly snapped at the speed they turned to face her.  Carmilla frowned and looked to each face.  LaFontaine looked peeved to say the least, Perry looked like she was trying her hardest to smile politely, and Laura—Laura was trying to suppress a small smile.  The confusion must have flashed across Carmilla’s face, because Laura immediately forced the look to disappear.  “Fun day at class Carmilla?”

 

The vampire was already digging in the refrigerator and pulling out her blood stash. She took a big gulp and wiped her mouth, “Peachy, Creampuff.”

 

After returning the soymilk container to its place in the fridge, Carmilla dropped onto her bed and pulled Laura’s pillow over her eyes.  It struck her as odd that it remained on her bed all day, even though Laura had plenty of opportunities to take it back.  The crew of toddlers, as far as Carmilla was concerned, kept talking for around ten more minutes before the redheads went their separate way. It was silent in the room after that, to mortal ears at least.  Carmilla could hear the deep breath Laura was taking, and then her footsteps across the floor.  “You okay, Carm?”

 

The pet name caused Carmilla to tense for a moment.  “The imbecilic nature of those at this institution is slightly upsetting, but I’ve been dealing with that for a few decades, so no more than usual.”

 

The bed dipped as Laura sat down and Carmilla’s eyes shot open under the pillow.  A hand was placed right next to her shoulder, but not quite touching it.  “It’s just, you seem extra broody today.”

 

“My ‘broodiness’, as you so eloquently put it, is no more or less than any other day. Your concern is noted, though.”

 

There was not nearly as much bite in those words as Carmilla had intended, but she was going to blame the pillow covering her face for that.  Laura lightly patted her shoulder, “Okay.  I’m going to go to the library, I’ll see you later.”

 

Carmilla offered a grunt in return, and waited to move until Laura had left the room. Once she was sure she was alone, Carmilla took a deep breath.  The lingering scent of Laura bombarded Carmilla’s senses.  An unmistakable feeling rushed through her whole body and caused, in an attempt to stop such feelings, Carmilla to toss the pillow across the room. It landed serendipitously on Laura’s bed, surprisingly close to the headboard, and Carmilla just stared at it. She knew she had feelings for the tiny human, but just her scent brought on a warmth that Carmilla had not known for centuries.  Shaking her head, Carmilla settled her breathing and held her head in her hands. “No.  You can’t do this.”  She let out a brief laugh, “And now you’re talking to yourself. Great.”

 

Carmilla decided it was time for a nap.  Her mind immediately went to a joke that Laura had that was very clever last time Carmilla awoke from one of her naps.  The young journalist thought it was quite funny to question if vampires took “cat naps” or “bat naps”. The smile that graced Carmilla’s lips was impossible to fight as she thought of the adorably dorky things her roommate said.  With the smile, she laid back and closed her eyes.

 

It was nearly two in the morning before Carmilla woke again.  The light was still burning from Laura’s computer and Carmilla turned to chastise her for staying up so late.  When she rolled over, however, the light was blocked out.  Laura was blocking the light and had her arms over her head and—her shirt coming off those arms.  Carmilla’s mouth went dry and her eyes went wide, taking in every bit of the view she could.

 

The expanse of Laura’s back was bared to her as the girl stretched out, assumingly from not moving for hours on end.  Carmilla could see every muscle as Laura moved.  As Laura pulled the tank top over her head, Carmilla tracked the bottom of it on the trip down; trying to get a final glance at whatever she could.

 

Laura turned around, forcing Carmilla to slam her eyes shut.  She didn’t want to be caught checking out her roommate while she changed. Acting like she had just been roused, Carmilla rolled and stretched.  Carmilla sat up as Laura was pulling the blanket on her bed aside to get under it. “Heading out?”

 

Carmilla pulled on her boots, “Yeah.  Shouldn’t you be asleep already?”

 

Laura shrugged, “It’s Friday night.  No classes tomorrow.”

 

Carmilla rolled her eyes, “Whatever.”

 

With that, Carmilla walked out the door and headed out of the building.  As soon as the night air hit her, she let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding.  Taking advantage of her vampire teleporting ability, Carmilla placed herself on the roof of the building. The air was chillier up here, not that it really bothered the vampire, but she could see a good percentage of campus and had an unobstructed view of the stars.  Here, Carmilla laid back onto the roof and just stared into the night sky. 

 

There was more going on in Carmilla’s mind than there had been in any class she had taken in the past half century.  This annoying little mortal was getting in her head.  This was very bad, and Carmilla knew that.  Memories flooded back behind her eyes.  Years before the same kind of feeling had encapsulated her, but this was even stronger than then.  This was all too much and Carmilla was beginning to feel a need for sustenance.  Figuring Laura would be asleep, the easiest way to get back to the room was through vampiric means.

 

Upon appearing in the room, by the window, Carmilla went directly to the fridge.  Opening it and taking her soymilk container out, she took a swig. Mid-drink, however, she almost choked at the surprise of a blanket flying across the room suddenly. Cleaning her mouth, she put the blood back and walked towards Laura’s bed.  “Having a problem there—“

 

Before she could finish her sentence, Carmilla saw that Laura was still asleep. It seemed that the girl had calmed from her dream-induced outburst just a second ago, so Carmilla crept back towards her bed.  As she sat down, Laura flailed again.  Carmilla froze and kept her eyes locked on her roommate.  The batwing charm was still wrapped around Laura’s wrist.  That meant that not only had Laura actually listened to her, and trusted her, but also that this was a regular nightmare that normal people have. Carmilla didn’t know whether that made her feel better or worse, there was no way for her to help Laura with this one. 

 

Carmilla resigned herself just to lie down and try to rest some; there wasn’t anything she could do anyway. That was until the girl in the other bed started mumbling in her sleep.  Carmilla caught the occasional “No” or “Stop” from Laura’s dream world, but just lay with her eyes closed.  Laura continued to toss and turn, and eventually uttered a phrase that had Carmilla on her feet as fast as vampirically possible,  “Carm, stop…”

 

She didn’t know whether to try and wake her sleeping roommate or if that would make things worse. It couldn’t be good to see the horror from your nightmares when you first wake up.  Carmilla was frozen in the middle of the room, every muscle in her body tense, watching Laura.  Steeling herself, she decided to wake Laura.  Anything to stop watching her face contort in pain like it was now.

 

Carmilla kneeled next to the bed and whispered, “Cutie, wake up.  Come on.”

 

She lightly shook Laura’s shoulder and kept asking her to wake up.  Her voice became more strained the longer this game continued. The harder Carmilla tried to wake Laura up, the worse her dream seemed to get.  “Laura, you need to wake up.  This needs to stop.”

 

Carmilla had raised her voice, and heard it crack as she kept talking.  Laura curled into herself as she started speaking again. Laura’s speech faded in and out as she kept going, “Carmilla.  Just…go.”

 

Carmilla could feel a sting in her eyes.  Whatever the dream version of her was doing, it was something she never wanted to know. Her hands had dropped to her sides when Laura had told her to leave.  It was in a dream, but it still hurt.  The vampire reached out and shook Laura’s shoulders again.  The tiny blonde screamed and lashed her arms out. One tightly clenched fist connected with the side of Carmilla’s head, catching her off-guard.

 

Carmilla leaned back, holding her head, as Laura sat up ramrod straight.  The young girl looked around in a panic, her breathing erratic. When she got her bearings back, she took another look around and locked her eyes on Carmilla on the floor. “Carmilla?  What are you doing?”

 

“You were having a nightmare. I tried to wake you up and you punched me.”

 

There was still concern heavy in Carmilla’s voice, but Laura was still in enough of a panic state that she couldn’t tell.  Instead, she launched herself at Carmilla.  Even with her vampire reflexes, Carmilla was not ready and ended up on the floor of the room on her back with Laura on top of her.  Laura’s arms tightened around Carmilla’s shoulders. The vampire moved to tear the girl off her, until she felt Laura’s wet cheeks press against her neck and shoulder. “Um, Creampuff?”

 

Laura quickly let go and rushed to get off of Carmilla.  Sniffling and wiping her cheeks, she leaned up against her bed, “Sorry. I just—I’m sorry.”

 

Carmilla sat up in front of Laura.  “Pretty bad dream?” She asked carefully.

 

Laura just nodded. Carmilla stood up and grabbed the blanket that had been lost all those long minutes ago.  “You kicked this off a while ago.”

 

“Thanks.” Laura took the blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders.

 

Carmilla stood awkwardly over the girl for a moment before moving back to her own bed. “Well, I’m going to—“

 

“Are you leaving?”

 

Carmilla was stunned by being cutoff, and froze when she thought back to the words Laura muttered. “I can, if you need me to.”

 

Laura shook her head. In the dark, Carmilla saw Laura’s cheeks light up pink.  “Could you…I mean would it be okay if I asked if you would, um, stay with me for the night?”

 

Carmilla blinked, “What?”

 

Laura shot to her feet, wobbling a little as the blood settled, “Never mind.  I just shouldn’t have said anything, it’s fine.”

 

“Did you want me to sleep with you?”

 

“Yes. I mean no.  I mean sleep next to me, not with me, because that is something else entirely.”

 

Carmilla hadn’t even caught her own double entendre.  This girl was seriously messing with her mind.  “Dream really get to you enough that you’re willing to sleep next to the big bad vamp?”

 

Laura looked like she was about to speak but then just looked down and fiddled with the bottom of her tank top.  “My dream was about you.”

 

Carmilla nodded, “I know. You were talking in your sleep.”

 

Laura’s pink cheeks turned to a deep red.  “What did I say?”

 

“You said my name a couple times,” Carmilla had to clear her throat before the lump that had formed there became obvious to the girl listening to her, “and you told me to stop and to ‘just go’.”

 

Laura sat down on her bed, “Oh. Well, um, that’s a little out of context.”

 

Carmilla snorted and her voice was filled with spite, “It’s no big deal.  Vampires are what children are supposed to be scared of.”

 

“That’s not. I didn’t.  Could you just come here?”

 

Carmilla slowly stood up and went and sat down next to Laura.  The small human took a deep breath, “My dream wasn’t about you eating me or something.  It was about you leaving.”

 

“What?”

 

“What you heard was something like ‘Carm, stop’, because you were walking away; and ‘just don’t go’.”

 

Carmilla was stunned. Her jaw was even hanging loose. “So, all the flailing and thrashing was because I was leaving you?”

 

“Um, yes.”

 

Laura’s voice was small; it was normally the one big thing about her other than her attitude. Looking over, Carmilla saw that Laura looked as small as her voice sounded.  Silence hung in the room for a few long moments.  With a deep breath, Carmilla pulled the blanket from Laura’s shoulders.  At Laura’s questioning glance, Carmilla rolled her eyes, “We both can’t fit under there if it’s wrapped around you like a burrito.  Let’s get you to bed.”

 

Laura flashed Carmilla possibly the brightest smile she had ever seen.  The two crawled up the bed to arrange themselves.  It ended up with Carmilla next to the wall with Laura’s head on her shoulder.  The girl’s arms were wrapped around the vampire’s midsection, and Carmilla had an arm around Laura’s shoulders.  “Thanks Carmilla. I know this isn’t really your thing.”

 

“Whatever, Cutie. Just get to sleep.”

 

Laura leaned up and kissed the underside of Carmilla’s jaw.  “Thank you.  Goodnight, Carmilla.”

 

Carmilla allowed a slight smile, but fought the full-blown grin that wanted to burst out. “Goodnight, Laura.”

 

It was silent for a while, but Laura kept shuffling.  Every time she would begin to drift off she would jerk awake again and tighten her grip on Carmilla.  Carmilla bit her lip to stop herself from letting tears surface over the action. Instead, she stroked Laura’s hair with her free hand and started humming a slowed down version of a song. Against her collarbone she felt Laura’s face stretch into a smile, “I know that song.”

 

Carmilla chuckled, but continued to hum.  It was only a second or two before she got interrupted, “No, start over.”

 

“I’m sorry?”

 

“Start the song over.”

 

“You’re so demanding tonight. Are you always like this in bed?”

 

“Shut up and start the song over.”

 

“I can only do one, Cupcake.”

 

“You are horrible.”

 

Carmilla rolled her eyes, but started humming the lyrics from the beginning.  She was humming and running her hands through Laura’s hair when she heard the girl lightly singing along.  “Velvet lips and the eyes to pull me in, we both know you'd already win.  Oh, you're original sin.  You fooled me once with your eyes now, honey.   
You fooled me twice with your lies and I say…”

 

Laura’s voice faded out, and her breathing evened out.  Carmilla smiled down at her now-sleeping bedmate. She was getting lost in the delicate features of Laura’s face and she picked up the song a few lines after Laura had left off, with a slight edit.

 

“Does she know that my destiny lies with her?  Oh Laura, are you saving me?”


End file.
